Break Down the Barriers to Change
For companies that produce high-tech products, the organizational barriers to meaningful change can be prevalent and powerful. So much so, in fact, that one recent study suggests that people-related factors account for 46% of the organizational impediments to improved productivity (see graphic at right).

The impact of people-related impediments to change is especially evident in the typical test environment, where:

• End users stash and hoard equipment because they believe it's the only way to guarantee they'll have what they need when they need it
• Project teams, departments and businesses organize their actions based on their own finite resources—producing agendas that conflict with their counterparts in the broader enterprise
• Non-standard inventories drive up costs and make it difficult for end users to share knowledge, test set-ups and methodologies, best practices and test equipment
• A host of people and groups oversee an array of test-related functions, all focused on their own functional responsibilities (rather than on seeing how to improve the overall test-related business performance)
• The failure of previous "silver bullet" approaches-new databases, centralized equipment inventories, etc.—have created skepticism toward new test-related change initiatives

The fact is, test-related functions are executed across a complex web of People, Practices and Tools. So no matter how sound a redesigned process or software solution seems to be, its success or failure ultimately comes down to whether or not people begin thinking and acting differently.

Accordingly, change management expertise is indispensable to driving optimal business performance in the test environment.

Proven Change Management Practices
In a way, change management is like quality. Just as quality needs to be designed into a product, change management needs to be designed into a test environment management solution. Just as quality (or the lack of it) is in the DNA of an automobile when a customer takes delivery, so change management (or the lack of it) is in the DNA of an asset management program. A car without requisite quality designed in won't perform to spec; similarly, a test environment program without change management knowledge designed in won't produce breakthrough results.

Sente produces breakthrough results because we recognize that in the test environment, meaningful change happens wherever people, practices and tools intersect. Our people are more than just test industry professionals. We're also experts in test environment change management. Our deep understanding of how people work together in engineering cultures is woven into the DNA of every solution we tailor for customers.

Our approach has us go to great lengths to tailor Test Resource Management™ (TRM) solutions that account for how people, practices and tools need to work together in YOUR organization. We have a history of helping customers secure end user and management acceptance of test-related change initiatives. Rigorous metrics allow us to measure the progression of your culture, and guide us in implementing and maturing practices. By showing you how to measure "culture," we take the mystery out of cultural change.